The physics of energy transfer in magnetic reconnection

磁场重联是一个基本的等离子体过程，在许多天体物理系统中起着关键作用。例如，它控制着太阳耀斑的爆发和演变，还控制着太阳发射的等离子体（太阳风）与地球磁场在空间（磁层）相互作用的方式。这个博士项目的目标是使用新的高分辨率实验观测空间磁重联来解释它如何处理和转换成不同形式的能量。一个主要的未解决的问题是如何在湍流能量可以消散的磁场重联在小尺度。这与更普遍的问题有关，即理解磁场重联如何精确地转换天体物理和空间等离子体中的能量，即使经过几十年的研究，这一问题仍然没有得到理解。卫星在近地空间和太阳风中进行的现场测量是了解这种等离子体过程如何工作的最佳方法之一。重新连接是磁层多尺度（MMS）使命的目标，这是2015年发射的多卫星NASA使命。它也与帕克太阳探测器（PSP，2018年发射）和太阳轨道器（SO，2020年发射）的科学目标高度相关。帝国是这三个任务的积极成员（与磁强计PI的作用，太阳轨道器），并积极参与MMS的活动和正在进行的研究，最大限度地提高科学产出的使命。这个博士项目的目标是使用新的高分辨率MMS观测重联，增强PSP和SO的数据变得可用，来回答这些关于重连如何处理和转换能量到不同形式的问题。

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that plays a key role in a number of astrophysical systems. For example, it controls the onset and evolution of solar flares, and it also controls the manner in which plasma emitted by the Sun (the solar wind) interacts with the Earth's magnetic field in space (the magnetosphere). The goal of this PhD project is to use new high-resolution experimental observations of magnetic reconnection in space to explain how it processes and converts energy into different forms. A major unsolved question is the way in which turbulent energy can be dissipated by magnetic reconnection at small scales. This is linked to the more general question of understanding how precisely magnetic reconnection converts energy in astrophysical and space plasmas, which is still not understood even after several decades of study.Measurements made in situ by satellites both in near Earth space and in the solar wind are one of the best ways to understand how this plasma process works. Reconnection is the target of the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) mission, a multi-satellite NASA mission which launched in 2015. It is also highly relevant to the science goals of Parker Solar Probe (PSP, launch 2018) and Solar Orbiter (SO, launch 2020). Imperial is an active member of all three missions (with Magnetometer PI role on Solar Orbiter), and is heavily involved in the activities of MMS and ongoing studies that are maximising the science output of the mission.The goal of this PhD project is to use new high-resolution MMS observations of reconnection, augmented by PSP and SO as data becomes available, to answer these questions of how reconnection processes and converts energy into different forms.